Lumina Copper drilling advances Regalito

Vancouver — Its 2004 drill program now complete, Lumina Copper (LCC-T) is seeing results significantly expand zones of mineralization at its Regalito copper project in Region 3 of Chile.

The final set of assays from 32-holes continues to show thick intercepts (up to 386 metres) of copper mineralization, much of which demonstrates high leachability. The latest results include:

• Hole RG04-44 The core hole, twinning RG-01, returned 262 metres (from 16 metres depth) grading 0.38% copper with 87% leachability, including 70 metres of 0.58% copper with 89% leachability;
• Hole RG04-83 RC drilling intersected 140 metres (from 30 metres) averaging 0.4% copper with 94% leachability, including a 50 metre section of 0.53% copper with 95% leachability;
• Hole RG04-94 Core drilling cut 220 metres (from 50 metres) assaying 0.43% copper with 93% leachability, including 16 metres of 0.72% copper with 95% leachability;
• Hole RG04-111 The RC drill hole returned a 214 metre intercept (from 94 metres) grading 0.35% copper with 77% leachability, including a 22 metre section of 0.91% copper with 83% leachability.

This year’s drill program on the porphyry copper project saw over 32,000 metres in 114 holes completed. An updated, independent mineral resource estimate, audited by AMEC, is underway and anticipated by January-2005.

Lumina initiated metallurgical testing of mineralized material to ascertain the leachability of contained copper. Bottle roll testing of both oxide and sulphide copper mineralized material recovered from RC and core drilling confirms previous results, demonstrating high leachability. Leachability refers to the dissolution of copper into solution either through sulphuric acid (for oxide mineralization) or sodium cyanide (for secondary sulphide mineralization).

A second phase of copper leachability testing, recently commenced, has seen eight large-diameter core holes extract sample material for a bulk column test. The program is being supervised by SGS Lakefield who are crushing and screening the material from the core, and will construct the bulk columns that will run until mid-2005. Data from the test will form the basis of a pre-feasibility study on a commercial-scale copper leaching operation at Regalito. The proposed operation would see onsite production of cathode copper, with no concentrate shipments to a smelter. The lack of concentrate shipping costs positively impacts prospective economics at such projects, allowing lower-grade copper deposits to be targeted.

Lumina has received a preliminary infrastructure study, completed by Vector Engineering, outlining the design and layout of heap leach pad, dumps and infrastructure for a 150,000-tonne-per-year cathode copper operation.

An unclassified resource (non-NI43-101 compliant) of about 200 million tonnes grading 0.5% copper (utilizing a 0.3% copper cutoff grade) had been outlined by previous operator BHP-Billiton (BHP-N) from a program of 65 drill holes.

Lumina Copper entered into the option to acquire 100% of Regalito in late-2003. The agreement calls for payments of US$900,000 over an eight-year period and coverage of maintenance costs. Additional cash payments are triggered if copper prices remain above US$1.00 per pound for a calendar year. A variable 1-3% NSR will be applied to production, dependent on copper prices.

The company has a portfolio of ten exploration-to-advanced stage copper projects in Chile, Peru, Argentina and Canada.

Lumina Copper has 14.4 million shares outstanding, giving a market capitalization of about $81 million with the issue recently trading at the $5.60 per share level.